The Montreal-based team sits in 7th place in team tech event after today’s finals and Canada’s new duet qualifies for finals with its 7th place after free prelims.

Ottawa, ON- Today in Budapest, Hungary, the Canadian team finished 7th in the Team Technical Final at the 2017 FINA World Championships. The Canadians scored 86.2044 for their routine, which was newly created this year around the music of Lindsey Stirling from the album Brave Enough. Russia took home the gold medal, China the silver and Japan the bronze. Canada was the top North American team in the competition, finishing ahead of Mexico (8) and the USA (11).

The athletes who swam in today’s Team Tech Final were: Janelle Ball, 24 (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC); Andrée-Anne Côté, 19 (St-Georges, QC); Claudia Holzner, 23 (Calgary, AB); Gwendolyn McGuire, 19 (Sherwood Park, AB); Samantha Nealon, 23 (Morriston, ON); Elizabeth Savard, 21 (Laval, QC); Jacqueline Simoneau, 20 (Montréal, QC) and Kali Wong, 20 (Calgary, AB).

Canada’s entry of Jacqueline Simoneau and Claudia Holzner continued their strong world championship debut in the Duet Free Prelims. They considered this their best swim so far, technically solid, the extra difficulty was evident, and they brought their emotional connection with the audience to a new level. Their score of 88.9667 has them in 7th place, and they have qualified as one of the 12 entries for the Free Routine Final on Thursday. The Russian duet  was first, followed by the Chinese in second and Ukraine in third.

For Holzner, their biggest objective coming into this event was to accomplish some clear performance goals. And after the swim, she said, “we’re very pleased with how connected the performance was. It had a strong “one” feel together and I’m very happy with how seasoned (as a duet) we are looking now.”

Simoneau agreed, citing her highlight of the performance was their demonstration of synergy and connectedness. As she said,”when that connection is there between the partners and between the duet and the audience, especially when it happens during Worlds, it is definitely a highlight, and I’m most proud of that today.”

They are both looking forward to competing in the Free Final and seeing their performance level continuing to progress.

Photos Liz Corman

What’s happening tomorrow, July 19, in Budapest

After her 5th place performance in Monday’s Solo Free Prelims, Jacqueline Simoneau will compete in the Solo Free Finals tomorrow. The event starts at 11:00 am local time (5:00 am EDT) and will be featured on CBC’s live stream coverage beginning at 4:50 am (EDT) on cbc.ca/sports. Canada’s soloist will be the 8th swimmer on the 12 finalists.

At night, Team Canada will also take the water in the Free Team Prelims with its ‘Fire and Ice’ routine. The preliminaries begin at 7:00 pm local time (1:00 pm EDT) and Canada will be the 6th team swimming of the 25 teams competing. In this routine, the Canadians celebrate their home country, contrasting the harshness of the weather in the Canadian North with the warmth of the spirit of the Canadian people.  Using a music compilation from three different albums, Guardians of the Earth, Illusions and Torn, the team’s strong technique can be seen in the exciting and difficult acrobatic highlights that have been built into the storyline. The first highlight sees the flyer exploding out of the water as flames, launching skyward in 360 degree flip before entering back into the water. Another sees the flyer/flames climbing the ice mountain and reaching out longingly from the frozen land into the open sky, while a third highlight shows the flyer/flame rising suddenly through a crack in the ice and heating those around it. The routine is creative and captivating with the sounds of crackling fire and cracking ice punctuating the musical composition.

The swimmers for the Free Team are : Gabrielle Boisvert, 23 (Cap-Rouge, QC); Gabriella Brisson, 23 (Calgary, AB); Claudia Holzner, 23 (Calgary, AB); Gwendolyn McGuire, 19 (Sherwood Park, AB); Marie-Lou Morin, 26 (Westmount, QC); Elizabeth Savard, 21 (Laval, QC); Jacqueline Simoneau, 20 (Montréal, QC); and Kali Wong, 20 (Calgary, AB). The alternates are Janelle Ball, 24 (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC) and Laurence Vezina, 20 (L’Ancienne-Lorette, QC).

For all Canadian schedules, start lists, results and links to live stream, please visit the event page on synchro.ca.

For additional information about World Championships, visit FINA’s website.